REVIEWS
RIDER, M. H. 1986. The Geological Interpretation of Well
Logs, xi+175 pp. Glasgow, London: Blackie; New
York: Halsted. Price £19.95 (paperback). ISBN
0 216 91846 4 (Blackie), 0 470 20281 5 (Halsted).
A good introduction to the geological aspects of well
logging, recommendable for 'anyone requiring an under-
standing of the basics of logs' (a quote from the author and
entirely justified).
Geophysical well logs measured in boreholes provide a
valuable tool-box for the geological interpretation of the
penetrated subsurface. The weight of this book lies in the
word geological. Physical aspects of the tools, necessary to
understand their response in geological terms, are discussed
with a minimum of mathematics and physics involved, but
enough to understand the essences of well logging.
This is an up-to-date and well illustrated book, with the
illustrations an integral part of the text. Numerical
information is tabulated as much as possible and doesn't
disturb the continuity of the text. The book has 'gone
metric': SI units are consistently used. This makes life a lot
easier for a new generation of well geologists or well
engineers (for those who want to stick to the old erratic
collection of units commonly used in the oil world, don't
worry, these are always given in parentheses).
In a broad sense, the book consists of three parts. The first
part provides a general introduction to the world of well
logging: a little bit of history, as well as some aspects of the
aquisition of well logs, standard displays, and information
concerning logging companies, followed by a discussion of
the physical environment of wireline logs (e.g. pressure,
temperature, drilling-induced changes, ideal versus real
response, resolution, effects of layer thickness, logging
speed, zone of investigation).
The second part is the largest section in the book. It
discusses the most important and most frequently used
logging tools, covering their principles, physical aspects, log
characteristics, as well as quantitative and qualitative use.
Each tool is dealt with in a separate chapter, respectively the
caliper log (borehole diameter), the temperature log, the SP
(self-potential) log, resistivity and conductivity logs, the
gamma ray and spectral gamma ray log, the sonic or acoustic
log, the density log, and lastly the neutron log: a whole
bunch of tools which together can provide a detailed
physical view of the subsurface. One tool, however, is clearly
missing in this otherwise fairly complete set: the dipmeter
log. The author provides a reason for this omission, the
interpretation problem. Still the structural information that
can be provided by a dipmeter log warrants its discussion in
this geologically oriented book.
The last part discusses the integration of all information
obtained from well logs for a geological interpretation of the
drilled sequence of rocks. In analogy with surface geology
this can be achieved on two levels of investigation. Firstly
on a small scale, the lithological composition of individual,
recognizable layers and secondly, the large scale combina-
tion of a 'family' of'related' layers into large sequences: the
distinction of facies and depositional environments. A
general approach (vertical sequence analysis) for achieving
such an integrated geological model is broadly given. It is
stressed that vertical sequence analysis should combine as
much information as possible in a consistent way. Wireline
logging is also a powerful stratigraphic tool. Stratigraphic
generalities of log data, including the correlation of logs and
the link to seismostratigraphy, are broadly covered in the
last chapters of the book. An important message is that the
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relation with real stratigraphy should, whenever possible, be
checked and calibrated.
The last chapter briefly mentions the problems of viewing
a real geological world with geophysical eyes. Each
geophysically-measured parameter provides a little bit of
information. A consistent combination of all bits and pieces
of information is the prerequisite for a realistic approxima-
tion of the real world. That is the conclusive philosophy of
this geologically-orientated geophysical introduction to well
logs.
J.S.
ZIMMERMAN, M. R. & ANGEL, J. L. (eds) 1986. Dating and
Age Determination of Biological Materials, xii + 292 pp.
London; Sydney; Dover, New Hampshire: Croom
Helm. Price £45.00. ISBN 0 7099 0470 3 (hard covers).
The title of this book is misleading as 'biological materials'
refers primarily to human remains, and 'age determination'
refers to the age at death of the individual. Hence the field
that the volume attempts to cover is much more narrow than
one would at first think, and there is little directly applicable
to geology. The authors have collected together a number
of lucid researchers to write individual chapters but as a
whole it is piecemeal, going into great detail on some
methods and completely neglecting others.
The book is divided into two parts, the first covering
dating techniques and the second the determination of age
at death. The first chapter is written by Reiner Protsch and
describes radiocarbon dating of bones. Although it is a good
introduction to conventional radiocarbon dating of apatite
and collagen, little is said of the exciting possibilities of
accelerator dating (such as purification and isolation of
amino acids). Chapter 1finisheswith a detailed comparison
of 14C with amino acid dating of a fossil hominid site. This
would have been much better placed after the principles of
amino acid dating had been described, particularly as
radiocarbon is the more definitive method. Patricia
Masters has written the chapter on amino acid dating which
follows. It is a good introduction to the technique, and
contains a small section on the use of racemization as a
palaeotemperature indicator. Chapter 3 covers electron spin
resonance dating and is, surprisingly, the largest chapter in
the book. Electron spin resonance certainly has a promising
future, particularly for the dating of teeth, bone and calcite,
and Motoji Ikeya enthusiastically describes a range of
materials to which the technique has been applied. However,
for some of these the reader is given a false impression of
the maturity of the method. The final chapter in part one is
entitled 'Ancillary Techniques' and begins with a very
readable introduction to the history and present status of
dendrochronology by Jeffrey Dean. Then follow two very
specific methods, 'mummification styles as a guide to the
dating of Egyptian mummies' and 'tattoos and the dating
of mummies', which presumably cover the personal interests
of Zimmerman.
Part two contains about 100 pages, half of which is 'Age
at death estimated from the skeleton and viscera' by Angel
et al. This is a detailed chapter with a number of interesting
photographs and figures, although with my limited
knowledge of anatomy I found it very heavy reading. The
remaining chapters concern assessment of the age at death
by other techniques: hand-wrist radiographs (Evylyn
Bowers), histology of human bone (Douglas Ubelaker),
dentition analysis (Raymond Costa) and asparic acid
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